Jochem Vroom and Jelle van der Bij, joint founders of the Dutch Global Savings Group-owned online coupon company Imbull, have announced their departure from the company.
Following Vroom’s leaving the firm, which will see him join coating agency Ayold as CEO, former performance marketing consultant and the Group’s MD for Nordic activities Mads Bukholt has been appointed as managing director.
Founded in 2008 and one of the Benelux region’s largest affiliate companies, Imbull is the parent company of a number of discount sites including Flipit.com, Kortingscode.nl, Actiecode.nl and Actiepagina.nl, and claims to be working with 25,000 retailers in 24 countries.
It was acquired by Rocket Internet-owned discount platform CupoNation in 2015, with joint goals of becoming “the world’s biggest savings platform”, and gaining the acquiring firm Imbull’s dominance in Netherlands and Benelux.
“Time for change”
Vroom, having spent over 10 years at the helm of the company, commented that his decision to leave the industry was due to it being “time for a change”, but called the sector a “great market to grow in and learn from”.
“The expert knowledge within the industry is still at an amazing level as competition is high level and all players are constantly trying out new innovative ways to get the users to the portals and apps,“ he said.
Although Vroom believes there have been many changes in the industry over the past decade, he believes it hasn’t changed as fast as it is generally thought.
“The big players, merchants and networks are the ones who decide how fast change goes, and many tend to stick to their biggest revenue drivers and models,” he explained, “Which business-wise is always quite a logical thing but is not as disruptive as I wish it would be.“
Global Savings Group’s co-founder and MD, Gerhard Trautmann, is confident the new Vroom’s successor will take the firm in the right direction.
“With the appointment of Mads Bukholt as new managing director of our Amsterdam hub, we have not only selected a proven industry expert and experienced manager but also someone who knows the company and is able to continue our growth path,” he commented.